Kennedy Elementary School Principal Cris Anderson will retire at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, Lawrence Superintendent Kyle Hayden announced this week.

“It has been a blessing to spend the last 38 years in public education, 26 of those years as an employee of Lawrence Public Schools,” Anderson said in a district-issued news release. “I credit my successes to the extraordinarily talented teachers I have had the privilege to work with at the East Heights Early Childhood Family Center and at Kennedy Elementary. Because of them, I will leave being a better teacher and advocate for children.”

Kennedy Elementary School principal Cris Anderson

Anderson, now in her seventh year as principal at Kennedy, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Grand Valley State University in Michigan. She spent 10 years teaching in Michigan — and another two in Illinois — before joining Lawrence Public Schools in 1989.

In Lawrence, Anderson taught third and fourth grades at Broken Arrow Elementary School and kindergarten at Cordley Elementary School. She also served as the district’s Even Start coordinator for eight years and as an early-childhood specialist for three years. In 2005, she became principal of the former East Heights Early Childhood Family Center.

“Thousands of young children have benefited from strong relationships Cris has helped develop among families, our schools and the community, including partnerships with individuals and organizations across Kansas who champion early-childhood education and school readiness,” Hayden said.

The district will immediately begin a search to fill Anderson’s position for the upcoming school year. Kennedy serves approximately 420 students, pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, and is home to the district’s early-childhood educational readiness program.